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The Indian Analyst
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North Indian Inscriptions |
LITERATURE
Sōḍḍhala’s Udayasundarīkathā is modelled on Bāṇa’s Kādambarī. Bāṇa’s works, the Harshacharita and the Kādambarī, are well-known. As in the Harshacharita, Sōḍḍhala has given, in the beginning of his work, an imaginary story about the origin of his family, and furnished information about himself and his patron. But the Kādambarī seems to have influenced his work more. Both these works are of the kathā type, i.e. their stories are invented. The themes of both are very much complicated. The Kādambarī describes incidents which occurred on the earth and in heaven, but the Udayasundarīkathā narrates some that happened in the Pātāla (nether world) also. Both describe that some of their characters had, as a result of curses, to go through the lives of a parrot and a horse (or a mare). In both the parrot is learned and proficient in the Purāṇas and Śāstras, and the horse (or the mare) as swift as wind. Both the works are full of long compounds. Unlike Bāṇa, Sōḍḍhala has not, however, used the ślēsha and other alaṅkāras to any appreciable extent. He relies mainly on the utprekṣhā for effect. His imagination does not take as high flights as Bāṇa’s. In many places his descriptions are of the stereotype. His story has more characters and is more complicated than Bāṇa’s Still, he has unravelled all the threads in the end. .. As stated before, Sōḍḍhala had before him Bāṇa’s Kādambarī as a model. So he has not only praised Bāṇa above all poets,[1] but has also brought him on the earth and made him praise his Udayasundarikatha.
.. Sōḍḍhala has used all the rītis (styles), viz., Vaidarbhī, Gauḍī and Pāñchālī in his work. He calls them Kaukilī (of the cuckoo), Māyūrī (of the peacock) and Mārālī (of the swan) respectively.[2] He generally uses the Vaidarbhī in verses and the Gauḍī in prose passages. His compounds in prose sometimes cover several pages at a time, but as he has not generally used ślēsha (double entendre), his style has not become difficult to understand. He has developed different rasas in his work. See e.g. the Vipralambha Śṛiṅgāra in the description of the pining Malayavāhana and Udayasundarī, Bhayānaka in that of the Rākshasa, Bībhatsa in that of the cemetery, and Adbhuta in that of the flying aeroplane. He has shown his love of nature in the description of gardens, forests and lakes. His description of a journey by an aeroplane is noteworthy. Though imaginary, it agrees with the experience of modern air-passengers. It well exemplifies the fight of his imagination and his power of description. .. Soḍḍhala has described or mentioned by name several of his predecessors and contemporaries. As his own date is certain, the lower limit for the dates of these authors can be determined thereby. Among his predecessors, Vālmīki, Vyāsa, Guṇāḍhya, Bhartṛimēṇṭha, Kālidāsa, Bāṇa, Bhavabhūti, Vākpatirāja, Māyurāja and Viśākhadēva are well-known. Sōḍḍhala, however, gives us the additional information that Vākpatirāja and Viśākhadēva were Sāmantas or feudatories. From a subhāshita we know, of course, that Māyurāja was a prince of the Kalachurī family,[3] but the information given about Vākpatirāja and Viśākhadēva is new. Viśākhadēva is probably identical with Viśākhadatta, the author of the Sanskrit plays, the Mudrā-Rākshasa and the Devī-Chandragupta.
..Sōḍḍhala has mentioned some of his Jaina contemporaries, of both the Digambara and
the Śvetāmbara sect, and their works, from which it appears that the Lāṭa (South Gujarāt)
country was then famous for Jaina literature. Unfortunately, none of the works of any of these
Jaina authors has come down to us. Sōḍḍhala’s Udayasundrīkathā is a Champū-kāvya of early
times. Some Champū-kāvyas of an earlier age such as the Nala-champū (or Damayantī-kathā) of
Trivikrama and the Yaśastilaka-champū of Sōmadēva are still extant, but they find no mention
[1] See वागीश्वरं हन्त भजेऽभिनन्दमर्थेश्वरं वाक्पतिराजमी[डे।
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